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Published: January 24th 2009
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Nottingham
The was the view right as I stepped out of the train in Nottingham Hello Everyone!
I just want to start off by saying how much I miss you all. Don't get me wrong, I am having a great time, but there are still some times that I just wish I could be home too. :-) Anyhow, I spent all that time telling you about my trip to London and I never even got to mention how my stay in Leicester has been thus far. So, that is what I am going to talk about now.
I arrived in Leicester a little over a week ago and I have just been settling in. We got an extra week before classes start so I haven't had anything to do except orientation stuff. I would like to say one thing though, although this seems like a great school they are very, VERY unorganized. The scheduling system here is really outdated, but oh well I think I have everything taken care of.
I live in a single room (with wash basin). It isn't like new and fancy or cool and old, it is like from the 60's or something, but I really enjoy having my own room. I LOVE having the sink in there too.
Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem
The place we had lunch and also the oldest pub in England There are twenty four people that live in my "block". That is like the section of the big building that belongs to us, we have our own lounge and entrance and everything. The people are so much fun and I love hanging out with them. They really make us all feel comfortable. In my corridor there are six girls (3 of us are America, 1 Canadian and the rest are British). We share a bathroom and so far it hasn't been a problem. I think there is only one other American, a girl, in the other corridor and then the rest are British guys. The boys live on the bottom floor and the girls on the first floor (or what normal people call the second floor :-)) I really like my block, they are just a really good group of people that get along really well. If I am going out or hanging out with someone it is usually someone from my block. Except the girl I met in London, her name is Lindsey. We actually do a lot of stuff together so that is really nice. It is good to have someone to just go around town with rather
than going alone.
As far as activities I have done since arriving to Leicester go, I have done a lot of relaxing and just settling in to my environment. It is so nice that they moved classes back a week because now I feel like I really know the town and the bus system and the people around me. It worked out really well. So, for the first couple of days, I did a lot of orientation and registration stuff for classes. It was good chance to learn the campus. Then, Lindsey and I explored the town a little and found the city centre. It is really cool part of town with a lot of shopping and pubs and stuff. It was built over old roman remains. Oh yeah, Leicester was an old roman city, there are still some random things around town left from that time. Lindsey and I saw "Bride Wars" last Friday. It was a cute movie. I guess I was expecting something a little different, but overall a very cute movie! This Tuesday was my first time at a club and I actually danced. Surprised myself a little there, but it was so fun! My
block really knows how to have fun. I love them.
So, since we had so much extra time before classes, the study abroad office organized two museum visits. The first one was called the Jewry Wall museum. It is located near an old roman settlement and part of the wall is still there as well as the foundation. The tour was aimed for younger children, but it was still really fun! I learned a lot about how the romans dressed and fought and cooked and lived! :-) I know that sounds lame but it was a really good time, I love museums! The second museum was a lot more fun. It is called the New Walk museum and we did an "education session" (again directed towards children) on ancient Egypt! I loved it. I touched a pot that was 4000 years old! There were mummified cats and birds and people of course. I learned a lot about why the people had to do the things they did in that time and about their amulets and gods and such. Oh and I also got to hold in my hands a piece of a reed rope that they believe was used
to pull the huge stones used to build the pyramids!!! The tour guide was awesome. He had all these little activities for us to do like writing your name in heiroglyphics, making a clay amulet and dress up. It was definitely worth my time. All in all, that was a good day!
Today (Saturday), Lindsey and I took the train up to Nottingham. It only took about a half an hour, the train on the way there was super nice. We arrived in Nottingham at about 9 am and we wanted to visit Nottingham castle so we walked to it and it was a lot closer than we had thought. This gave us almost 45 minutes of extra time before it open at 10 am so we wandered over to the downtown area and looked at the shopping center. Nottingham is a cool town, I really liked it. So, a little after 10 am, we were inside Nottingham castle and it was so beautiful. The castle grounds were so cool, I felt like I was on the set for a movie or something. It is kind of up on this hill so the view from the top was really
awesome. There was also a museum inside the castle. It was full of so many random things. I am not sure how they are all related because it seriously had nothing to do with the castle most of the time, but I still saw a lot of cool things. After we toured the castle we had lunch at the OLDEST INN IN ENGLAND!!! It is called Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem. It was like the ulitmate typical English pub, or at least the image that I had in my head! So adorable. The food was also pretty good, which is kind of rare here, I have to admit. Afer lunch we were off to Sherwood forest to see Robin Hood!!! It was like 40 minute bus ride away though, we were not expecting that though. But, it was okay, it all worked out in the end. Sherwood forest was a gorgeous forest. I mean you could just tell how old it was and they have this oak tree that is just massive. I have picture to show you. Anyways, we just walked along the paths and it was a really relaxing place to be. I enjoyed it a lot.
Okay, so I know this seems a little brief and kind of rushed, but I will update anyone on more details if they want. I have a ton of pictures of my school, Leicester, the museums and my trip to Nottingham. I will upload them as soon as possible but as of right now some of my pictures on Lindsey's camera. I miss you all and I love hearing from you guys! Hope to talk to you soon!! I love you
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Frankie
non-member comment
Just to say Hi!
Madison we are very proud of you and glad that you had this chance to see some of the World. I hope this helps you to see How much of the World we need to protect and it would be nice if all Countries got along so we could accomplish this. Love your Dad